Alone Time
by beware of trips
Summary: Betty and Jughead get into a heated discussion after an argument with Archie.


Alone Time

"Detective work is not for me," Veronica sighed as she slumped down next to Archie at Pop's. He and Jughead had been waiting at Pop's for the past hour for their friends.

"You volunteered, Veronica," Betty insisted with a smile. "I told you it can be boring work sometimes."

"Well let's face it," Kevin said with a pointed grin at Jughead. "There's probably a lot more action when you're out there with your partner in crime than with us."

"No sight of Polly at Thornhill?" Jughead asked.

"Nope, not even one of the redheaded demons in sight."

"Hey, let's go move to one of the bigger booths," Archie said.

"Nah, we'll be nice and cozy, right B?" Kevin asked.

"Right, Kev," Betty said as Kevin grabbed her shoulders and shoved her into the booth. She slid down until she was pushed up against Jughead. He slung his arm around her shoulders and they exchanged a quick kiss. She her nose pressed up against his for a few seconds.

"Hi," Jughead whispered at her.

"Hi," Betty whispered back with a smile.

"And there it is!" Veronica exclaimed, slapping her hand against the table. "How long was that, Kev? Thirty seconds?"

She poked Archie in the chest with one of her long nails. He looked somewhere between ashamed and bashful. "What Ronnie?"

"That look you get on your face whenever Betty and Jughead are together."

"The subtle eye-roll, the mild disgust," Kevin added.

Jughead felt Betty tense up and pull herself away from him slightly. "Don't do this, guys," she pleaded.

"No, I'm sick of it, B," Veronica said. "Archie, if you have a problem with the two of them together just say it. What the hell is bothering you?"

"God, Veronica," Archie said. "What's this have to do with you?"

"You're adding unneeded tension to this group and I'm sick of it. So if you have something to say, just say it."

Archie folded his arms against his chest and looked between Betty and Jughead. "No."

"No you don't have something to say or no you won't say it?" Kevin asked.

"Just no."

"Say it, Archie," Betty said in a low voice.

Archie let his head thump back against the back of the booth. He let out a dramatic sigh. "It makes no sense. You two. That's it."

"Go on," Betty commanded, her voice picking up.

"I said that's it. I just don't get it. Where this came from, what happened."

"Well, did you even bother to ask us?"

Archie laughed. "Ask what? You think I want details? No thanks."

"You're supposed to be our friend, Archie Andrews."

"I am your friend. That's exactly why I don't want to get involved. I don't want to be around when this crashes and burns."

"Excuse me?" Betty made the two words sound like a threat. Jughead was holding his breath and, with quick glances over, it appeared Veronica and Kevin were as well. He squeezed her shoulder lightly, but she made no sign that she noticed.

Archie unfolded his arms and put his hands on the table. He leaned across slightly. "I don't know what's going on exactly. You were working together, playing Scooby-Doo or whatever, getting close. But one of you is going to hurt the other one. Either Betty, you're just using Jughead as a rebound, or Jughead, you were just taking advantage of Betty when she was in a bad place. Maybe a little bit of both. But eventually, this is all going to fall apart and you're going to ruin the friendship the three of us have had since we were four."

"I don't need to listen to this," Betty pulled herself out from under Jughead's arm. "Especially not from someone who's made as many poor choices as you have, Archie. Move, Kevin."

"Betty, wait a sec-" Kevin was cut off by Betty shoving him out of the booth and making her way to the door. He grabbed the end of the table to stop himself from falling to the diner's floor.

Jughead shot Archie a disdainful look. "Thanks a lot, man."

"Trust me," Archie said, unapologetically. "You'll be thanking me for real one day."

"I doubt it."

Betty still working on the buttons of her winter coat when Jughead caught up with her half way across the parking lot. He made a grab for her arm and she pulled away hard.

"Don't just storm away, Betty," he pleaded, hurrying his pace to keep up with her. "Talk to me."

"I'm going home," she said shortly.

"Can I come with you?"

She glanced over at him and gave a curt nod. They walked in silence until they were entirely out of sight of the neon lights of Pop's. Jughead shot a quick glance over his shoulder, as if to make sure they weren't being followed, and then pulled her hand out of her pocket. In spite of herself, Betty felt herself give out a little sigh of relief at his touch. She didn't look up, but she knew Jughead was smiling.

When they arrived at the Cooper residence after a ten minute walk, Betty stopped suddenly at the end of the driveway. "Unbelievable," she muttered.

"What?"

"No one's home. Of all the times for my parents to be out, they choose now. Ugh."

For the past few weeks, Betty and Jughead had been desperate for any alone time. Although her parents had accepted Jughead was her boyfriend, they seemed to have developed a sixth sense for knowing when the teens got within three feet of each other inside their home. It wasn't like they had even gone very far yet; heavy kissing and second base seemed to be as much as either was comfortable with. But even if they wanted more, Betty's parents had a knack for bursting in whenever things started to get hot. Making out perched on their desks in the Blue and Gold office was fine for the time being, but they both craved a time and place they could be completely alone.

Betty fiddled with the house key in her gloved hand and kicked off her boots as soon as she got inside. She ran up the stairs to her room, not bothering to wait for Jughead. By the time he caught up with her she was already curled up in her bed with a pillow covering her face.

"Bets?" he asked softly, taking a seat at the edge of her bed. He tried to take the pillow from her but she held her grip on it. "Talk to me. Did something happen today?"

"What do you mean did something happen today? You were there!" Betty pushed the pillow to her chest and Jughead got a look at her tear-stained face. "How could you just keep quiet while he said all that to us?"

"Betty, you know Archie didn't mean any of that. Veronica and Kev were pushing his buttons and-"

"No, Jughead. He did mean it. What they said was right and I'm sick of it." Betty pulled the pillow back over her face. "Kevin brought it up today. If I noticed what Archie does. Apparently him and V have been keeping tabs on him, trying to see if it's just us. They wanted to know if he's ever actually talked to us about our relationship, if he has a problem with it. Has he ever said anything to you?"

Jughead sighed. "Not really. I mean, after we first kissed, he kind of asked me if something was going on between us. But he didn't even really let me answer. He never directly brought it up again."

Betty brought the pillow down a bit so he could see her eyes. "Kevin said that first time Veronica called you my boyfriend, he rolled his eyes so hard he thought they were going to fall out of his head."

"Kevin exaggerates everything. Plus, he was still with Val then. She was right there."

Betty pulled the pillow down so her whole face was exposed. "He's not jealous of us, Juggie."

"What is it then?"

Betty gulped. "I don't know. Disgust? We've been friends forever and he's acting like we betrayed him."

Jughead put his head down into his hands. "What did he mean about you rebounding?"

"I told you. The night of the back to school dance. I told him how I felt about him…"

"And?"

"And what?" Betty snapped, sitting up in her bed. "Nothing ever happened between us. Archie rejected me and that's the end of it."

"So why would you be rebounding?"

"Because Archie is a moron? I don't know. Maybe he thinks I still like him and I'm using you to make him jealous."

Jughead looked up. "And?"

"Stop that. You know Archie is the last thing on my mind."

"It was only a few weeks between that and us getting together."

Betty blinked back tears. "You think I still have feelings for him."

"Do you?"

"No, Juggie. I swear, I don't. All I wanted to do was forget about Archie after that. Why else do you think I revived the Blue and Gold? Buried myself in this investigation?"

"I don't know, Betty. Why'd you ask me to help you?"

"Because you're a writer. You were already writing about Jason's death. I wanted help and I knew you'd do it."

He let out a wry laugh. "Good old reliable Jughead?"

Betty flopped back down in her bed and stared at the ceiling. "Don't flatter yourself."

Jughead lied down on his side next to her. "Oh please, Betty. I am good old reliable Jughead. For you at least."

"You and your stupid conditions."

"Which you met none of, by the way."

"I had to practically grovel to get you to help me."

He reached over and pulled her side so they were facing each other. "I don't do anything I don't want to, Betty. I never would have heard you out if I wasn't going to help." He kissed her softly on the lips. "I just wanted to watch you grovel." He kissed her on her chin. "And the idea of being alone in the Blue and Gold office with you all the time was too good to be true." He went to kiss her neck and she held her hands up to push him away.

"Are you serious?" she asked softly.

"What? Your parents aren't here to ruin the moment."

She sat up in bed. "No, I mean did you just help me to be alone with me?"

Jughead sat up and hung his legs over the side of the bed. "Of course not, Betty. We've been friends for twelve years. I wanted to help you. Working closely with you was just… a perk."

She got on her knees and crawled to the edge of the bed so she was next to him. She put her hand on top of his and he got tense.

"I wasn't taking advantage of you, Betty. I swear. Archie doesn't know what he's talking about."

"No, Juggie. I – did you like me?"

He looked at her in disbelief. "Yeah, Betty. Of course I liked you."

"How long?"

He fixed his gaze out her bedroom window and shrugged. She grabbed his shoulders and turned him towards her.

"How long, Juggie?"

"A long time, Bets. I don't think I could pinpoint it if I tried."

"Did I do to you what Archie did to me?"

"Of course not. You wear your heart on your sleeve, Betty. Everyone knew how you felt about Archie. I didn't let on about you. I didn't want it to get weird between us."

"I feel so stupid. Why didn't you ever say anything? Do anything?"

Jughead wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She inhaled his scent and rested her body against his. "I did do something. I climbed through your window and kissed you."

"And how long did that take you?"

He smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Do you know how many times I planned it? How many different ways I thought of kissing you? I came really close once, right before your left for your internship."

Betty thought for a minute. "That night at Pop's?"

"Yeah, when Archie left to go talk to someone and I sat down on your side. I made you laugh, and you touched my arm."

"Why didn't you?"

"It wasn't right. Not with so many people around. And what if you freaked out? Slapped me and ran away."

"So stealing a ladder from Mr. Andrews and sneaking into my room was the better choice?"

"I had no intention of kissing you that day."

"Oh please. You called me Juliet when I opened the window."

"That just came out. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Betty crawled back to head of her bed and tugged at his sleeve for him to join her. They made themselves comfortable and rested with their noses nearly touching.

"I had no idea I was going to kiss you until I did it. I just kind of wanted to let you know how I feel and I chickened out. You were talking about your family being crazy. You'll never believe what I was going to say."

"What?"

"I'm crazy about you, Betty Cooper."

Betty giggled. "That's terrible."

"I know. You know, you're the only one who ever leaves me as a loss for words." He reached out and stroked her hair.

"That line was a little better." Betty touched his face. "I was kind of expecting it. Not when you came in but, you know, when we were standing there. The way you looked at me. You're right. I've never seen you not know what to say. And I've never seen you look so nervous. And afterwards, God, it felt like this huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders."

"I felt like the whole world had been lifted off my shoulders. Just the fact that you didn't shove me away, that you kissed me back, that was all I wanted."

"Well, I think you got a bit more than that." Betty closed the small gap between them with her lips. She broke off suddenly with a gasp. "Sorry, sorry. My phone is on vibrate from the stakeout." She sat up and wriggled it out of her tight jeans.

"Let me guess. Your parents on their way home?"

"No, it's a text from Veronica. She said Archie admitted he's an ass and he told them that watching us together is like watching his brother and sister make out. Eww."

Jughead rolled his eyes. "Idiot."

"They're at Archie's now. She wants us to come over so he can apologize. What should I say?"

"Really Betty?" He kissed her on the neck. "Your parents aren't home." Another kiss, and she lied back down. "Archie insulted us." He nibbled lightly at her neck. "And you don't want to just leave him hanging for a while?"

Betty tossed her phone at the foot of the bed. "All excellent points."


End file.
